Volleyball: Asia's spiking might

The match, at 20:00 on Thursday 14 December, is not quite the final the locals, neutrals or romantics fantasised about. Korea beat Qatar in their semifinal on Wednesday and most will agree it would have been nice if the volleyball players from the host country had emulated their basketball and football cousins and finished their Asian Games in the final.

Korea, against Qatar and the vocal home support, deserved their place in the final however. They did a professional job beating Qatar 3-1 and always having a bit more quality. The mastermind behind their team is Kim Ho Chul who was an Asian Games champion as a player in 1978.

"China are a strong team. They have a good setter and good attackers but anyway we should win," the coach predicted after their semifinal victory.

China's ability to turn defence into attack has been their trademark at the Asian Games, they have 24 killblocks compared to only 14 from Korea.

The Chinese beat Kazakhstan 3-1 in their quarterfinal before only just seeing off strong competition from Saudi Arabia in the last four where they came through a marathon match 15-13 in the fifth set having been 2-0 up at one stage.

One of the biggest surprises at Doha 2006 was the form of the Japanese, the best-performing Asian side at the recent world championships in their home country. There they finished seventh with seven victories and qualified for the second phase. Both China and Korea floundered with the Chinese men only winning two from five and the Koreans a measly one.

Japan were jaded here in Doha, and they lost in the quarterfinals to Saudi Arabia. It just shows what a difference home advantage can make. Qatar would testify to that, their team doing brilliantly to reach the semis, few having picked the hosts as potential medallists before the tournament.

Saudi Arabia's clash with Qatar for the bronze medal promises to be quite a contest that begins at 18:00, with the final of Korea v China to follow at 20:00.

15th Asian Games, Doha 2006